Case Study: World Solar Challenge 2001 (Ground Handling Services)

Challenges faced

November 18, 2001 saw the most important race within the circles of solar automobile designers as the World Solar Challenge 2001, a race for solar-powered cars held in Australia. For Ramom Martinez, leader of the Alpha Centauri project, the question arises on how to transport tonnes of highly sensitive and fragile equipment from Amsterdam, home of the project to Darwin, ground zero for the race.
Transportation for the car will have to take into consideration the changes in climate from Europe's colder and dryer climate to the hot and moist climate of the Asian and Australian weather. Adding to the challenge is the fact that there is only one Alpha Centauri. The hopes and dreams of the team who has been working 20 months on the project rest on the solar-car reaching Australia safely. For that, Alpha Centauri turned to MASkargo and KLM for assistance.

How MASkargo faced the challenges

MASkargo and KLM Cargo sponsored this team by arranging the transportation of the solar-car and the equipment from Amsterdam to Australia and back. As part of the transportation needs for the solar-car, MASkargo co-developed with the Alpha Centauri team and build a customised box for shipping this very sensitive solar-car and all its equipment by air. With the co-operation of all parties, we are proud of the fact that the Alpha Centauri team won the race.
For the return trip, the solar-car was shipped on the MAS-freighter from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia where the cargo was transferred to the KLM Cargo freighter en route to Amsterdam.
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